


More Than Enough

by ChooseYourFighter



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Awkward Dates, Blind Date, Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Gen, Post-Episode: s07e04 Millenium
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-26
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-17 05:47:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29712561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChooseYourFighter/pseuds/ChooseYourFighter
Summary: “I'm not the one that Scott gave his cell number and email address to, after all," Scully says.Mulder laughs. “Why? Are you jealous?” he asks her.--Scully agrees to meet her brother for dinner after work at her and Mulder's favourite place.Unfortunately, she soon finds herself roped into a blind date and desperately hoping that Mulder will show up and rescue her.He does.
Relationships: Fox Mulder/Dana Scully
Comments: 8
Kudos: 88
Collections: X-Files Dialogue Fanfic Exchange (2021)





	More Than Enough

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mmeadowlarkk](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmeadowlarkk/gifts).



> Set around about the events of 'Millenium', so early- or mid-Season 7.

It didn’t even take a full half-hour for Scully to know that she had made a mistake by accepting this dinner invitation. But what could she have done? Her brother was only in town for forty-eight hours.

And he was even happy to meet her at the bar-and-restaurant near the office that Mulder lovingly calls ‘ _The Spook Haunt_ ’. Mulder’s first-ever explanation of the place to her continues to bring a smile to her face, even now, seven years after the fact.

“What’s not to love, Scully?” Mulder had said. “It’s open 24/7, has a cheap menu of unexpectedly good food, it’s full of FBI, CIA and NSA agents trying to look inconspicuous _and_ it has great bathrooms and other hidey-holes for if you need to exchange Secret Stolen Government Documents with your Supposedly Unnamed Source.”

Scully had to admit that Mulder was right about all of those points. (Although she still found it hilarious that her own Very Secret Source she met in the ladies' room that one time was Martha from Accounting.)

And Scully couldn’t possibly have known that Bill would use the catch up to try and engineer an “accidental” meeting with his “old Navy buddy” who moved to DC five years back to “work in policy”.

Scully knows that Bill loves her and is trying to look out for her. She knows that he must genuinely believe that she will like this man – Scott – and that he must truly believe her to be in desperate need of assistance when it comes to meeting new people. The turn of the Millenium only appears to have encouraged Bill in his quest to 'help' his sister.

But while Scott is nice enough to look at and clearly has a good, secure job, it is also quite evident that he does not have the job due to merit, or even skill, but rather his connections.

“Pop and his Pop were both long-termers when it came to government work,” Scott says. He’s on his seventh drink and his words have developed a noticeable slur. His food does not appear to have made a dent in his alcohol intake nor upon his insistence on he and Bill working their way through two large jugs of booze.

( _Doctor_ Scully has to admit amazement that he wasn’t slurring two drinks ago, especially given the mixing of different types of alcohol, but the ‘amazement’ is not of a positive kind.)

“Oh?” Scully says, trying to appear at least slightly interested (and not like her eyes are glazing over).

However, he needs no encouragement.

“Yep,” he says. “ _Decades_ of service between them, like, almost a hundred years. Literally.”

Scully is annoyed with herself, and not only because her own drink and meal haven’t arrived and neither of the men at the table with her have noticed. ( _Mulder would have offered to go up to the counter by this point,_ she finds herself thinking.) But also for following her societally-mandated role of ‘Woman Interested in What Boring Man Has to Say About Himself While He Asks Her No Questions About Herself’.

“Did they work in policy?” she asks.

Scott smiles and shakes his head. Then, he pauses and looks around.

Bill leans forwards. It is with a mixture of amusement and annoyance that Scully notices that Bill’s face is taking on the ruddy tinge it always does when he drinks, although he is three drinks behind his friend and has at least two inches in height on him.

However, Scully remembers well that Bill’s college girlfriend nicknamed him ‘The Cheapest Date on Campus’. It may not be long before her brother is on the floor.

“Not policy work,” Scott says, then drops the volume of his voice. “Really secret squirrel stuff.”

“Really?” Bill says.

Scott nods and Scully notes he is starting to sway slightly. Scully looks up and finds herself hoping, _desperately_ , that one of the ten or so tall, dark-haired men in equally dark suits standing near the bar - all trying really hard not to look like a pack of government agents - is Mulder so he can come and rescue her.

_What?!_ Scully thinks to herself. She is appalled by her own internal monologue regarding her partner, and not the first time. _Rescue me?!_

Scott is still talking, because _of course_ he is. “The stuff they worked on was crazy, _crazy_ ,” Scott says, his voice low. “Really weird stuff that you don’t want to believe is true. All these secret experiments on people’s minds and invisibility and stuff recovered from crash sites.”

Scully is trying very hard to keep a straight face, but it is surprisingly difficult. To her stunned surprise, Bill is drunk enough that his usual inhibitions around ‘crackpot stuff’ have seemingly completely evaporated, leaving only curiosity behind.

Either that or he is so drunk that he has lost the ability to understand English.

Which Scully knows from past experience is quite possible.

“My job is _sooooooo_ boring compared to Pop and Grandpop’s jobs,” Scott is saying, his voice a surprisingly high-pitched whine.

“Mine is, too,” Bill commiserates.

The two men look at each other and, after a moment, the tears start forming in Scott’s eyes, and Scully knows the Drunken Male Self-Pity Party is about to start. She mentally braces herself, carefully schooling her features into her most professional, Serious Business face. The face which Mulder and Skinner have both declared, in hushed tones, "leaves large, powerful, frightening men a quivering mess".

Scully doubts it will be difficult to bing forth that facial expression. She doesn't want to be sitting here, listening to two privileged men whine about how difficult it is to be so fortunate. She'd rather be hunting imaginary swamp monsters while getting eaten alive by mosquitoes because at least she'd have Mulder at her side, babbling excitedly about Native American folklore and moon cycles and if she gets cold he'll offer her his jacket which smells just like him and makes her feel safe and...

Scully feels a hand on her shoulder. Despite everything, she finds herself smiling, because she knows who it is simply by touch.

“Excuse me, I don’t mean to intrude, but I believe this might be Agent Scully’s long-delayed drink and meal.”

Scully looks up, and there he is. Her hero. With a plastic tray which holds her cocktail and her roast chicken with veggies and chips.

“Thank you,” she says, and he grins That Grin at her. She can feel the smile spreading further across her face and the words are out of her mouth before she can even think about it. “Won’t you join us?”

“I wouldn’t want to intrude,” Mulder replies, his eyes flicking to Bill briefly.

Out of the corner of her eye, Scully can see that Bill is trying to form words, and that his face is taking on an alarming shade of crimson.

Scully feels a strange mix of anger and triumph in that moment. Bill may think he knows best, but she can make her own decisions in life, thank you very much.

“You’re not intruding,” Scully says to Mulder. _Firmly_. “Please join us, Mulder. I _insist._ "

The look of surprise on Mulder's face - accompanied by what Scully could swear is _hope_ \- leaves her feeling strangely warm. Just like that kiss in the hospital waiting room (that they don't talk about) did.

Scully looks at Bill. His confused rage only spurs her on.

Scully turns back to Mulder. "Besides, Scott was just telling us about his father and grandfather worked for the government for decades cleaning up UFO crash sites," she says, smiling as Mulder's eyes light up. "I’m sure he’d love to hear about the X-Files.”

Mulder grins like all his Christmases have come at once. Scott looks thrilled and immediately starts babbling about Roswell and cover-ups and the Zapruder film and asking what Mulder knows. Bill looks furious and if looks could maim, Scully is sure Mulder would be flat on the ground right now.

Scully just smiles at Bill and starts eating her fries.

* * *

After Mulder helps a thankful Scott and incoherent-threat-spewing Bill into a taxi, he drives Scully home.

“Thank you for the lift,” Scully says.

“It’s no trouble, Scully,” Mulder replies. “I know Bill had arranged to drive you home but he’s in no state.”

Scully laughed. “I knew I shouldn’t have got that taxi this morning.”

“Hey, you got to charge it to work,” Mulder said. “What’s the point in being a government spook if you don’t make them pay for things at least once in a while?”

Scully smiles at him as he parks the car outside her building.

"I really didn't mean to intrude on your catch up with your brother, Scully," Mulder says. "I was waiting for my burger to go and Sally said she'd been trying to get your food to you for five minutes but couldn't get to you, so I offered to help."

Scully smiles and wonders, not for the first time, if Sally - the place's owner and a former government spook herself - is trying to set her and Mulder up.

"I was glad you showed up," Scully said. "I was initially trying to work out how long I had to stay before I could make my excuses and leave without being considered rude, but that dedication to social norms was failing with every passing minute."

Mulder chuckles. "I take it that Scott was indeed an uninvited guest?"

Scully shakes her head. "No, I think Bill was trying to set us up for a blind date."

Mulder's eyebrows almost disappear into his hair and Scully's fingers itch with the desire to brush his fringe off his forehead. "Oh?" he says.

Scully nods. “I think Bill was barking up the wrong tree there. It's not me that Scott gave his cell number and email address to, after all.”

Mulder laughs and, to Scully's surprise, blushes. “Why? Are you jealous?” he asks her.

Scully quirks an eyebrow at him in a desperate attempt to keep a straight face. “Yes, Mulder,” she says, deadpan. “Desperately. I’d thought out the wedding reception seating plan and everything.”

She is strangely thrilled that, for a brief moment, he seems to actually think she is being genuine.

If she didn’t know better, she’d assume that the look that crosses his face when he realises that she is joking is _relief_.

“Do I get to be the Maid of Honour?” Mulder asks after a pause.

Scully smiles. “I wouldn’t have anyone else at my side at my wedding but you, Mulder.”

He smiles at her then, genuine and radiant, and even after she realises what she actually said, she can’t bring herself to regret it. Not with that smile.

So she just leans over and kisses him instead.

**Author's Note:**

> I am terribly sorry that I had to get an extension for this, Stef, and that I didn't have this ready to post earlier in the week! I'm afraid it has been varying states of chaos in my neck of the woods for a month now. 
> 
> I do hope you enjoy this story! I haven't written any fiction of any kind for a very long time and I am worried that it shows, but I had a good time writing this!
> 
> Thank you for the great prompt (which really made me think) and many thanks again to our wonderful mod, Nicole, for being so kind to give me an extension during the latest ridiculousness I've found myself in the middle of.


End file.
